Topic: Rewiring my CB550F

[relative q]

So now that I've finished painting my frame, I need to rewire.  The bike in question is a 77 550F, and the first owner had for some reason grafted on the wiring from some Yamaha, all the way down to the ignition (my key says Yamaha on it).  I want to rewire it properly, especially since the starter motor wires were cut completely and I don't have the idiot lights. 

What's the best way to do this?  Should I try to find a used wiring harness and ignition?  Should I roll my own?  Anyone got any tips?

[TwoTired]

You don't say what your goals are...

If you want to restore to stock then getting a used haness in good condition is certainly the way to go.

If might be the best way regardless, if you are going to use the stock positions for the electrical devices you do plan on having.

The Honda wire was high quallity with many strands for flexibility and offers color coded wire coatings that help later on down the road determining proper connectivity.  It might look cool to have all the wires on your bike to be Black.  But, when you have more than one disconnected, restoring proper connectivity can be a challenge.

Cheers,

[FunJimmy]

This is a very interesting topic. I will be starting on my own café project CB550F at the end of the riding season and want to redo the wiring on my bike too.

There seems to be a lot of unused wires on my bike and I’d like to reduce the harness to the absolute minimum. Can’t see a need for the blinker buzzer and the clutch safety switch either, so they gotta go. Could axe the idiot lights and run an oil pressure gauge instead. Don’t really need the run/stop switch on the right bar….etc.

Does anyone have a revised (minimum) wiring diagram available?

Jimmy

[psykod]

Probably the best thing is to start fresh with a used '77 CB550F wiring harness.  I picked up a cheap one from ebay that worked for me.  Don't make the same mistake as I did and purchase a K series harness thinking all 77 550's would probably be the same.  There were significant enough differences that I had to splice in the parts that I needed.  Also, be careful of purchasing older bike harnesses that had the starter switch on the side of the bike instead of in the middle of the handle bars.

[relative q]

It's good to know that the K harness doesn't work, considering my local salvage place has a 77 K and I almost bought the harness off of it two weeks ago.  I'll keep my eyes open for an F harness on Ebay or something.

[dusterdude]

jmmy,try oldmanhonda.com,i think he has an interactive wiring schematic that lets you delete wires and shows you whats left.

[FunJimmy]

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Jimmy